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A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Send This Review to a Friend
Director David Cronenberg’s unnerving, grippingly entertaining “A History of Violence,” a highlight of the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and now in commercial release, is riddled with mystery and suspense. It is also marked with outbursts of violence that the title promises, but not of the exploitation kind. The violence springs from Josh Olson’s astute screenplay based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, and it counterpoints the outwardly placid existence in a fictional American town. The performances are also on a level that compounds the entertainment factor. In short, much comes together in this unusual, riveting movie that is difficult to describe without tipping off too much.
The beginning sets a devastating tone. Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall gives a performance that should rank among the year’s best. Stall keeps his cool behind the counter when his luncheonette is invaded by thugs. He becomes the local hero for how he handles the situation. His wife Edie, played to perfection by the ever luminous Maria Bello, deeply loves him. But is Stall who he seems to be, or is there a mysterious past?
Hit men coming to town think there is. Do they have the wrong man? The lead interloper is chillingly portrayed by Ed Harris, on whom you can always count to deliver a distinctive performance. The Stalls have two children, Jack, a teenager interestingly portrayed by Ashton Holmes, and his younger sister Sara (Heidi Hayes). Later, we meet William Hurt in a creepily effective performance as a Philadelphia mobster.
Such are the bare bones of the film’s structure, but that is not telling you a lot, since Cronenberg’s film depends as much on its strange ambience and the juxtaposition of domesticity and small town life with exterior menace. He is also concerned with the possibility dark recesses in peoples’ lives, real or suspected, and how events compel choices and accommodations. He steadily escalates the tension while building sympathy for the Stalls no matter what’s involved. Rest assured that nothing stalls in this clever, brilliantly filmed drama, which reflects Cronenberg at top form. A New Line Cinema release.
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